GOP lawmaker in Okla.: ‘What happened to the Republican Party that I joined?’

Hey Okie! You and Rimmer agree with this guy or is this the type of thread you two have to try and change the subject of or simply ignore? Cox is asking the same questions we all have been asking all along.

GOP lawmaker in Okla.: ‘What happened to the Republican Party that I joined?’

04/04/14 11:33 AM—Updated 04/04/14 12:03 PM
By Steve Benen

Oklahoma state Rep. Doug Cox (R)
Photo by Associated Press
Last May, just two days after a deadly tornado caused devastation in Oklahoma, state senators got right to work … de-funding Planned Parenthood. Oklahoma state Rep. Doug Cox (R), an obstetrician who considers himself “pro-life,” made no secret of his disappointment.

In a striking piece published in The Oklahoman last May, Cox made an impassioned argument against his own party’s culture-war agenda. “What happened to the Republican Party that I joined?” he asked, adding, “What happened to the Republican Party that felt that the government has no business being in an exam room, standing between me and my patient? Where did the party go that felt some decisions in a woman’s life should be made not by legislators and government, but rather by the women, her conscience, her doctor and her God?”

A year later, as Katie McDonough reported yesterday, Cox’s frustrations haven’t faded.

Oklahoma state Rep. Doug Cox is an anomaly, and he knows it. As a self-identified pro-life Republican in a deep red state, Cox makes for an unlikely ally in the reproductive rights movement. But that hasn’t stopped him from being an outspoken critic of his colleagues’ efforts to scale back access to contraception and abortion services.

In a letter to his fellow Republicans, Cox admonished the modern GOP for its fixation on controlling women’s bodies. Writing in response to a proposal to ban Medicaid coverage for emergency contraception and allow pharmacists to refuse to fill prescriptions for birth control, Cox asked, “What happened to the Republican Party that I joined? The party where conservative presidential candidate Barry Goldwater felt women should have the right to control their own destiny?” On the House floor this week, Cox blasted his colleagues for pushing Texas-style restrictions on providers and regulations around emergency contraception that he called “prejudiced against women.”​

Among other things, policymakers in Oklahoma are considering new regulations on abortion clinics and new restrictions on contraception access. By all appearances, the measures are likely to pass.

I am curious, though, why Cox seems surprised.

To reiterate a piece from last May, I’m sympathetic to Cox’s concerns about his party’s culture-war agenda, but when he asks, “What happened to the Republican Party that I joined?” it sounds as if the GOP has suddenly taken a far-right turn on social issues.

But the Republican Party that Cox joined changed its posture on social issues quite a while ago.

The point isn’t that Cox is wrong on the merits. On the contrary, it’s heartening to hear from a red-state Republican who’s uncomfortable with the GOP’s culture-war agenda as it relates to reproductive rights. Rather, it seems a little late in the game for a state representative to wonder aloud “what happened” to the Republican Party that adopted its far-right positions years ago.

 

I tend to agree with Doug Cox when he says that, as a practicing physician, he has never and will never perform an abortion. If he ever changes his mind and decides to start killing babies, he needs to join the Democratic Party.

 

Do you also agree with his assessment of the Republican Party? Many of us have been asking the same question for a long, long time.

 

I think it's refreshing (and good for the long term strength of the party) to see a variety of viewpoints...unlike the lemmings on left who march lock step with BO's every whim.

 

So instead of saying yea or nay to his assessment of the Republican Party, you guys went with the changing of the subject? Who could have seen that coming? Oh yeah, me.

 

The Republicans keep attempting to get on the same page politically but they can't ever get a quorum at their planning committee meetings. Half of them show up at AA meetings, Booster Club Functions and other such civic gatherings around DC and its an hour or more before they realize they are in the wrong place.

 

OK, I don't even know what this is remotely related to but....OK.

 

Was it a secret, to some, the GOP was opposed to killing babies in the womb?

 

http://www.today.com/video/today/54864495?from=en-us_msnhp#54864495

 

Well, thanks for the clarification but it still falls into the "let's change the subject" category even somewhat further than the tangentially related other posts. So far, you guys have me wishing that you had gone with the non-response technique.

 

And if you ever learn the difference between a baby and a fetus, you too can join

 

Diversion is one of their games. Like obstruction and obfuscation it should be included in their success platform.